Random stuff
by Egris Treehugger
Summary: Just 3 versions of what might happen next, pretty much the same...
1. chapter 1

Almost everyone was searching the ruins of the Citadel, looking for Shepard, losing hope with every passing second. A week passed, they had combed the largest pieces, there was no chance left of finding her alive, or anyone for that matter.

"Let's head back," with a great sadness in his voice Garrus ordered his team, "There's no-one alive here."

He took a last look back, to say goodbye in his soul, when suddenly he heard a faint voice from the wreckage. At first he thought he was hearing things but decided to give hope a chance and took a step back to confirm if the voice he heard was real or not. To his utter joy, Garrus heard another faint cry and then another, from the far back of the room.

"Wait," he changed his order and almost sprinted to the direction of the voice.

He pulled up pieces of rubble, wondering how they could have not looked under there before. The last sheet of metal revealed a bundle of cloth, it moved slightly. He removed a piece of cloth and saw the smallest pink hand he had ever seen reaching for him. Garrus picked the bundle up gently and stood up.

"What did you find, Vakarian ?"

"A survivor," he replied and unwrapped the cloth a bit more, the head of a human newborn baby appeared. He couldn't believe that, a human baby had survived for a week, with nothing but air. Still there it was, weak and pale, but still alive, breathing and looking straight at him, with biggest greyest eyes ever.

"A small human," he specified, the whole team came to see was it really happening. He raised his glance, "Quickly, back to the ship, we must get him to the infirmary fast."

X

"Mister Vakarian," a nurse approached him.

"Yes," he replied, "How is he ?"

"He is a she, and she is a true miracle, besides for being extremely dehydrated and weak she seems to be fine, she will have the best care with us."

"Can I see HER."

"Just follow me," the nurse led him to the next room. In the incubator in the end of the room, there she was tiny, pink and barely moving. As if she had seen him, she immediately reached toward him again and smiled.

"Recover well, tiny one," he said to her and rested his hand on top of the glass roof of the incubator.

"There is one more matter, mister Vakarian," the nurse changed his tone to a more serious one, "We need you to fill in some forms about finding her."

"Offcourse."

"And if you wish you can name her."

"Me, why ?"

"She's not registered and our DNA-database has no match for her parents so the government will become her custodian for now, going by the messy state of things right now there's not much hope."

X

Not a day went by when Garrus didn't visit the pediatric ward, he knew most of the staff there by first name basis already. He was the first one to hold her after she was cleared out from the incubator.

Months flew by quickly, the nameplate on her crib still said baby-girl CS-Omega - Citadel Survivor, the last one. Everyone had nicknamed her baby-bird, in his mind Garrus had picked a name for her but he was afraid to get too attached. He looked at her, a tiny sleeping bundle in his arms, with every passing minute realizing how little he was looking forward to someone else coming forth and claiming her.

X

"In my professional opinion, I see no objections why mr. Vakarian shouldn't be eligible for an adoption, he has all the financial resources to provide a stable home, he has thoroughly educated himself about taking care of a child and most importantly he has developed a strong relationship with the adoptee."

"That was all in your report, doctor," the judge interrupted, "

"Sign here," the judge told him, Garrus couldn't get it done fast enough, "Congratulations, mister Vakarian, from here on you have the sole parental custody of Baby-girl CS-Omega."

Garrus had tried to keep Mila away from his job, at the Reef's new Security, as best as he could, too much scum went through there daily. It lasted about just few weeks, and sure Mila and Zaeed had been introduced to eachother but they haven't really met yet, until the day she walked into the HQ alone.

Zaeed was just checking the stock behind a computer.

"Hey, sweetheart," he greeted her, "Your dad ain't here right now, want me to call him ?"

"No," Mila approached him without fear, Zaeed had gotten used to being scary to everyone, "Actually I wanted to talk to you mr. Massani..."

"Really?" he cut her off, directing his attention to her.

"You and my dad are good friends, the thing is he really misses Palaven but he can't go there with me and he can't really leave me here alone also," she rattled down. "I have a plan, see, if you, mr. Massani, would agree to look after me, like for a week or so, I know he would be able to visit Palaven, he trust you a lot and you live basically next door to us, it'll make him so happy," she stopped looking at him with the eyes of a sad and lost puppy.

That wasn't something that Zaeed would have ever expected of her, "Well, darling, I'm not really good with kids," he tried to back out as politely as he could.

"I'm no trouble at all, I'll be just fine on my own, you don't really have to do anything but just to assure him, that I'm looked after."

"I'll have to think about it..."

"Please, please, please, mr. Massani," she looked him straight in the eyes. The little one was too clever - Zaeed thought just before breaking, "Fine," he agreed, "But no more, mr. Massani crap, that is how the criminals call me."

X

Yes, he knew that she promised to be fine on her own, but he had promised Garrus and that was something meaning more to him. So, Zaeed checked in with Mila, she was masterfully self sufficient. He felt quite uneasy, was more used to dealing with rough and tough characters, Mila was a small and dainty princess compared to these.

"So, you okay here, sweetheart ?" he asked.

"Yup," Mila replied with ease.

"Can I get you anything ?"

"Nope, I'm fine."

"Same time tomorrow ?"

"Okay."

He was half way glad to leave, didn't have half an idea what to do with her. The next day was the same, Mila was still alive and managing everything just fine.

"Everything still okay ? "

"Yup."

"Need anything? Listen, this is weirding the hell out of me:"

"Nope, that was the deal."

"Fine," he was totally lost, "I'll be going then."

"Actually," Mila stopped him as he was about to open the door, "You could give me 50 percent, or 45, I'm not going under 40..." Zaeed turned around but didn't know what to answer, "...you're going to play poker again in your place, I can "help"."

"Girl, what the bloody hell are you yapping about ?"

"You lost 200 credits yesterday, there was 3460 on the table, that in half..." Mila looked like a miniature criminal mastermind.

"How do you know that ?" he sat behind the kitchen counter opposite to her.

"Oh, uknow I'm only eleven, who ever notices a little kid."

"Go on," he knew that she had been to his living room somehow, without getting noticed.

"What could be the best cover that you are babysitting me," she continued,

X

"Two thousand four hundred seventy two," Zaeed divided, "That's exactly half."

"Cool," Mila smiled and slipped the credit chit into her pocket.

"What are you going to do with that money ?"

"I really want to get a hoverboard," she started enthusiastically but then pulled herself back, "But it'll better wait a bit, don't know how to explain it to dad yet."

Good thinking, he thought, damn, small Vakarian really was a criminal genius, "Listen, I might be able to "help" you with that," he said, "Let's say "I'll get" you a hoverboard for your birthday."

"Hmm," she nodded with approval.

"Small one," Grunt roared over the hall for a greeting.

"Big one," Mila tried to match him, she also tried to knock him down by leaping into a hug, still couldn't master it.

"He-he, small one," Grunt commented and put her back down again, "How come you're still so small ?"

"Capped another year, uknow," she said proudly.

"Argh, wanted to be here," he apologized, "Got held up by these damn vorcha, they are getting more organized, tried to take the Krogan Relay, kicked them back to the hellhole they crawled out from, how was your party, small one ?"

"I learned to make my own fireworks, set fire to couple of things, uknow the usual stuff, dad hopes, I'm smarter now."

"Well are you ?"

"Well if he had given me my present earlier," she looked radiant whilst revealing her brand new gun, "I would've done some target practise instead," Mila pointed the Gun out like a professional, "Capped the furthest target this morning, definitely a better shot now."

"This, I got to see."

Suddenly she got all suspicious and holstered her new toy, "Maybe not here," she looked around, "Dad is kinda pissed."

"What DID you do ?"

"Oh uknow, they have wanted to redecorate the entrance alley anyway for a long time now."

Omega never agreed with her, or was it the other way around, but something went always wrong. A large and a small figure were half sneaking back to the ship.

"Here is your half," the larger figure said with a deep voice and handed something to the smaller one, "Thanks," the smaller one replied with equally small voice.

"Thank YOU," the first one added.

"You welcome," a third voice appeared from the darkness and froze the two figures in place.

The light was turned on and whilst Mila and Zaeed were just standing in the corridor, looking like they both just had a heart attack, a very angry Garrus pointed to Mila.

"You," he almost yelled, "To you room, now!"

"You," he waited until Mila had closed the door to her room, "I thought you were someone I could trust," Zaeed had never before seen Garrus be so angry, "She is twelve years old and you take her to a poker game...on Omega...with criminals," Mila was also listening to every word, her ear closely to the door, almost shaking with fear.

"I wouldn't have taken her if I wouldn't thought that was safe," Zaeed wanted to say sorry, that was all that came out, "You know I would die before let anything happen to her, I get how you feel."

"Do you ? Would you have taken Lex out like that ?"

She backed away from the door, she was too afraid to continue listening the exact words what the two men continued to shout at eachother.

Mila was sitting, back against the glass, infront of the window in her room, she had her arms wrapped around her legs and rested her head on her knees. She didn't move when Garrus entered the room and sat next to her, she heard everything happen.

"Baby-bird," he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "Have you any ideas how I felt finding you gone, I thought that you were kidnapped or killed or worse."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "And don't be too angry with Zaeed, it was my idea."

"And he's a grown man, who should have known better," he said seriously, "I'm more mortified than angry, what if something would have happened to you, how long have you two been doing this ?"

"Since the first time you went to Palaven and Zaeed was watching after me."

Mila had never actually seen snow before, it was cold and her mind was blown away, everything was so white and fluffy.

"What the hell is this stuff ?" she asked whilst picking some up.

"Frozen water the simplest," Zaeed explained.

"Insane," Mila was astonished.

"Freakin' me out," Grunt added. The Normandy was back on another turn above them, it glided over the hillside and the wind was too much to anyone to stay on their feet, all three of them rolled along the snow.

Mila was the first one to get up, she couldn't stop laughing, "Do it again," he said to her communicator.

"Do it and you'll die, " Grunt ended the transmission.

Mila peeked through the scope, she noticed Garrus walking out from behind the corner, "Visual confirmed, Papa-bird," she said into her transmitter.

"Loud and clear, Baby-bird, wait for the signal," Garrus whispered into his omnitool.

Mila continued to scout along the street, she noticed Zaeed, "Visual confirmed," she was reluctant to continue, "Hunky-stud."

"Hear you clear, sparrow," he replied quietly.

"What's a sparrow ?" Mila asked.

"I spotted him," Garrus intervened the conversation. He started walking towards a nervous salarian.

"Papa-bird, I don't think he's alone," Mila noticed a suspicious vorcha on the other side of the hall, "Ten steps to your left...Hunky-stud," she continued.

"I see them," Zaeed took over, "Continue, sparrow."

"The fuck is a sparrow ?" she asked again, but he still didn't answer her. She confirmed that Zaeed started to distract the vorcha and continued with scouting.

"Papa-bird, more friends coming in," she noticed some suspicious salarians from the other side, "I'm taking the shot, be ready."

"Gimme five," Garrus whispered to her and approached the salarian.

"One..." Mila started to count slowly, "Two...Papa-bird, I don't think these are his friends," she noticed a gun."

"I got this, resume," Zaeed had gotten a rid of the vorcha in gunpoint and was hurrying to the other side.

"Three, four, five," Mila counted quickly and took a shot, straight into the salarians neck. He started to fall down, Garrus caught him smoothly and walked to a skycar just three steps away.

"Clear, see you in HQ," he said and ended the operation entering the car.

Mila had her first date, finally someone was brave to ask her on one, all went to hell.

"What the hell, you, guys," Mila spouted out furiously when she found them sitting on a crate in the corridor, probably waiting for her. She punched both of them to their shoulder and sat between them.

"Yeah, he said he won't probably call me again," she wasn't done.

"I'm sorry," Zaeed murmured roughly, "Yea, we're sorry," added Garrus, both of them lowering their eyes with guilt.

"You," she nudged Zaeed with her elbow, "Casually walking by fifteen times a minute, the fuck, man, even a blind person will notice that and you," she nudged Garrus, "Really, five red dots, you don't even have that much eyes," she covered her face with her hands, "I'm gonna die alone, as a lonely fucking hag."

"You still have us, honey," Garrus placed his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close to him.

"Great," Mila sighed with desperation.

"And you know, if he can't take our crazy," Garrus tried to mend the situation, "He certainly can't take your crazy, so we just saved you a heartbreak."

"Not helping, dad," Mila was about to have another angry outburst.

"Say, would this help, we'll take you out and have a helluva time," Garrus suggested.

"I don't really have a choice, do I."

"Nope," Zaeed replied to her and they picked her up, Garrus carrying her by the upper part of her body and Zaeed her legs.

"Really, guys," she couldn't but laugh. They hoisted her up to their shoulders and carried her to the Citadel, a bar at Omega, that had become their regular place, since Aria had her issues with Mila.

X

"Get up !" Mila pushed Zaeed almost off his bed, "Get out!" she ordered him, after seeing that he had waken.

"Out!" she repeated. Zaeed was utterly confused, but still got up from the bed, at the last moment grabbing a pillow to cover his privates.

"Out, out, out," Mila continued and pushed him out the bedroom.

"There is a krogan puking in my room," she wrapped his blanket around herself and fell onto the bed, "You brought the mystery booze yesterday, so this hangover is your fault, I hate you, Massani."

"Mila," Garrus followed her, "Zaeed," he greeted him.

"I should change my doorcode," damn, these Vakarians.

"Where is she ?" Garrus asked and Zaeed pointed towards his bedroom.

"Baby-bird," he said entering the room.

"Hung, over, go, away," she ordered him with her head buried in another pillow.

Garrus could only back out of the room.

It had been a busy week for everyone, lastly a breather dawned. Mila was the last to reach their regular spot on the balcony of Zaeed's apartment, near the Citadel. It had a wide view over the alley and thanks to the bar, it also had live music for entertainment, unlike Mila and Garrus's apartment across the building. And like always she arrived not from inside the apartment, but from a roof nearby. After placing her hoverboard in the corner of the balcony, she sat onto the edge of the third lounger in there.

"Sup," she greeted them.

"Hi, honey," Garrus greeted her.

"How's the pickings ?" Zaeed asked.

"Oh, the pickin's good," Mila rustled through her backpack. She handed a bottle to Garrus, "Straight from Palaven," she pointed out and tossed a box of cigars to Zaeed, "Sur'kesh Special and," she pulled out another bottle, "From an anonymous sponsor of tonight."

Zaeed took the bottle for a closer inspections, "Goddamn, girl, this is older than I am, how the fucking hell do you keep coming up with this crap ?"

"I just asked nicely," she said and drew the most clever smile on her face.

"That's my girl," Garrus commended her and placed three glasses on the small table in the balcony.

"Well hell, I'm not the only one prepared here."

X

Mila woke to the sweet smell of coffee, Mila lifted herself to sit on the sofa and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw Zaeed in a robe, walking towards her with two cups of coffee, "Good morning, beautiful," he greeted her, sat next to Mila and handed her one of the cups.

Mila took a huge sniff of the coffee, "So howcome you look so peachy already ?" she asked.

"Had time for a shower, woke me up with your snoring, goddamn you sleeping Vakarians."

"Did not," she smirked, nudged him with her elbow and snuggled next to him, "Speaking of, where is the other one ?"

Zaeed pointed towards the balcony door and next to it layd Garrus, still cuddling his rifle.

"Aww, that's cute," Mila pointed out, "Like a drunken angel, should we wake him ?"

"I have bad enough hangover."

"Can you dance, Urdnot ?" she asked Grunt.

"I can SHOOT you, Vakarian," he apologized gently.

"I don't want to talk about it, I want to shoot you if you don't tell me !"

"Okay, as humanely as possible," Mila gave it a thought. She fiddled a bit with the controls and an unusually annoying and loud song started to play trough the speakers in the whole section.

"This is cruel and unusual," Grunt pointed out.

"Flush 'em out before evening," she promised.

Only an hour went by, Garrus was feeling sick and had earphones on, Grunt looked like he might develop a headache in the thresher maw proportion. Mila was just jumping around and singing along, "I can go on like this for hours," she said.

Mila was alone on the Reef again, this time she was bored out of her mind, still on the closest to a sick leave as it came. A laser beam had just grazed her, but the heat burned well and fused a part of her jacket to her skin. She didn't have time to wait, it had to be removed or she would have died in blood poisoning. Somehow she managed to get back to the HQ, falling down from exhaustion when reaching there. Zaeed knew there was no time for anesthetics. Crouching over her, he placed one of his legs on her back and pushed her down with all of his force, so she wouldn't move.

"This is gonna hurt," he said to her, "I am sorry, sweetheart."

He pulled the burned skin and fabric mixture off her shoulder and held her down, she was yelling and kicking with the mixture of anger and pain by instinct. Garrus spread medigel on her fresh wound to stop it from bleeding and tried to also hold her in place, she wasn't conscious anymore. It helped, not long and she was passed out on the floor.

X

She waited until Zaeed got home and walked over to his place.

"Could you help me with this thing ?" she asked her and revealed a jar of medigel, "I can't really reach everywhere back there."

"Anything for you, sweetheart," he agreed.

He approached her cautiously, the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her. Mila flinched a bit when he first touched her, "Sorry," Zaeed said.

"It's fine," she replied, he's hands were far from delicate, a course mercenary's handprint, yet that was just enough of roughness to soothe the itching in her wound without hurting it. She exposed more skin to his touch.

"That, hurts soo good." she moaned. He wanted to run his hand all across her body and kiss her neck, something primal awakened in him. A part of his brain said, that this might not have been the best course of action, he froze and rubbed the rest of the gel into her skin as automatically as was possible, didn't even notice when his hand stopped when finished.

Mila turned around and touched the scar on his face with just one finger, gently as she could. She looked straight into his eyes, "Does it hurt ?" she asked.

Zaeed only half registered her question, Mila leaned closer to observe the scar.

"After all these years," she added.

"On bad days," he answered.

"Mine itches like hell all the time," she ran another finger back up the scar.

"That'll pass," he almost whispered.

Mila took a deep breath, the itching had returned, "Oh, I can't wait," her breath scorched his face.

"I got you," he slided his hand across her wound. It felt soo good, she leaned closer to him until just a few millimeters of space separated their lips.

"This thing between my ears is telling me that's not a good idea," he stopped himself mostly.

"It's probably right," she lower her head and rested it on his shoulder.

Mila leaned against Grunt, reste her head on him and sighed deeply.

"Hey, small one," he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Hey, Grunt," she said instead of the usual "big one".

"What's wrong ?"

"Just a bad week, everything that could went wrong."

"That bad, huh."

"Nothing mortal, just managed to fail every aptitude test, stupid beyond help."

"The hell with these test, you have real smarts, the ones that matter in real life."

"Thanks, you always know how to pick me up."

"Well you are small and weigh nothing," he said and Mila could already laugh a bit.

"Hey kids, what's up," Garrus stepped into the room and sat on the other couch, "Liara told me, if there's anything I could do ."

"Don't make me do these test anymore, I'll figure out what I want to do on my own."

"Overpowering force is for dumbasses," he stated to the cadets and measured the row on the ground, all got their asses kicked. All of a sudden he saw Mila walking past the doorway.

"Vakarian !" he stopped her, "Step right here for a moment."

Mila walked in the room cautiously, looking around, not knowing what to do exactly.

"Show these girls how it's done," Zaeed instructed her.

"I don't really wanna hurt you," she hesitated and a loud smirk echoed over the others, she was years younger than everyone else and only an entry level cadet compared to the advance class.

Zaeed ignored that, he charged towards Mila, with anger burning in his eyes. Mila reacted within a fraction of a second, she leaned forward, secured her legs, raised her arm and took the full force of the impact without flinching. He slided her towards the wall without holding back. Everyone was expecting Zaeed to pin Mila to the wall and have her in a choke hold but the moment her heel touched the wall she dropped down. A swift kick to the groin and hitting the wall with full momentum took Zaeed down and silenced the room. No one had even noticed when Mila grabbed his gun, she pushed her knee to the back of his neck and the gun's barrel to his skull.

The silence took Mila off guard and she returned to reality, she uncocked the gun and placed it on the ground.

"I'm sorry," she said with regret.

"Don't," Zaeed replied through pain, "Showed these pansies, take the day off everyone," he stood up, crouching and limping.

"Let me help you," Mila supported his walk and guided him out the room.

It was too late, a melancholic jazz echoed over the room. Mila was the last one standing, she wasn't drunk enough, looking out the window arcing over the yard. Zaeed walked in, with a slight limp, he was a bit more sober now. He stood behind Mila and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"How you doin, beautiful ?" he asked.

Mila rested her head against his chest, "About to explode."

"That bad ?"

"I hate these fake smiling faces, year after year, they have the same lies - promises for everything, just to repeat the same faces next party and disappear for the rest of the year."

Zaeed turned Mila around, he slided one hand down to her waist and the other down her right arm, wrapping his fingers around hers in the end.

"Forget about these bumbasses," he started to sway slowly and glued his cheek to hers, "You can trust me."

Mila exhaled deeply and tried not to break down.

"Trust, Zaeed, pretty butterfly," he continued, "I'll be here every day, anything you need, you hear me - anything."

Mila exhaled again and tried not to break down, for a whole different reason this time.

"The one thing I want," she looked him in the eyes. He knew what Mila wanted, because he wanted it too, she might have been the one. Milagros had grown into a fine young woman, if she had been any other sixteen years old throwing herself at him, as a red blooded man, Zaeed wouldn't have had a half a thought about agreeing. In his mind she had too much insight to just to be used physically, and he couldn't allow himself to give her anything more, Mila deserved so much more. They would have been so good together, perfect to be honest, if it only would have been half a century ago, when he was only twice her age, then he would have at least considered.

"I know," Zaeed pulled her back closer and tried to drown into her scent, messing up her hair and burning her scalp with his breath. The scent that had become so familiar to him, after a narrow escape, when she was in his arms, sweaty, panting with the most blissful smile on her face, looking like she just climaxed. That was the sight forever burned in his mind, and used whenever needed, Zaeed took a bitter sweet solace from the fact that he wasn't alone in that struggle, Mila used the memories of his touches and words. She also knew that when she really wanted she could have his all, the only thing holding her back was the knowledge of how hurt he would feel afterwards.

"But we know better," Mila sighed, she felt unusually safe, the mind could keep the heart in line.

She was the only one who pulled a gun to Zaeed and lived to tell about it.

"It's my big day, I'll cover the bill."

"Milagros, let me."

"Zaeed, I asked you guys out to celebrate my first payday."

"No."

Mila was too drunk to have patience, she pulled out her gun and stuck it under his jaw, "I am fucking paying for the drinks, understood Massani ?"

"Feisty, little thing."

She backed off, "Now, DO we have an understanding ?"

Only flaw Mila might have had was a sense of positivity, she believed that everyone was good inside and trusted a bit too much , a trait she herself would have never seen as a flaw. Well no one in Omega dared to even touch her, it would have either been Garrus or Zaeed, one would shoot right away and the other would tortured at first, no one was certain which one would do which.

Mila was sixteen then, she had left for a late evening walk with just one clip in her gun. She got jumped and used her last ammo, next she got a gun pulled at her head, Mila had never been in that kind of a danger before, she held her breath trying to wrap her thoughts around being dead.

"Hey, assholes, I wouldn't do that," unexpectedly Zaeed appeared from around the corner, having a gun in both hands, "You okay, Mila ?"

She reacted with a delay,"Yeah."

"Walk here," he ordered her. She bit her lip, signaling that she was unarmed and started slowly step towards Zaeed.

"I have you in sight," he growled to the attackers, "One move and you'll be picking your entrails from the floor."

"What if we shoot ?"

"Dumbasses, she's the only thing keeping you alive right now."

Mila walked carefully pass Zaeed and hid behind his back, she knew he will have some firepower strapped to his armors back-plate.

"So what are you going to do now," he almost yelled out, giving her a cover noise to unstrap and arm the gun. She peeked out from his side, sliding the gun out along his arm, working the shadow perfectly. A little trick that Mila had invented during her self-defense training with Zaeed. He aimed the gun with his arm and bend it towards himself, signaling Mila to shoot and also removing his hand from the firing zone. The impact blast took the attackers off their feet and gave Mila and Zaeed a window to escape.

They got ambushed from another corridor, in the last moment Zaeed covered Mila with his body, protecting her from the shot that now landed into his back, tossing them into a dark corner. Zaeed cradled Mila under himself, he had a plan.

"Play dead, no goddamn heroics," he ordered her, "Live another day."

"What about you, Zaeed," she wanted to cry out and get help but she knew if she would make a noise or moved, they would find her and surely kill the both of them.

"It's fine," he tried to lift her spirit, "This'll be a good death."

"No," she felt the warmth of his blood on her skin, soaking through her clothes, she pressed her head next to his elbow and tried not to cry, "Had only one clip with me, I'm so stupid."

"You were wonderful, darling, made this old soldiers last years worth living."

"Why can't you live more years, my wonderful is just starting up."

"I bet," he smirked through pain, that had a oddly calming influence, "Maybe in next life."

"Never figured you'll believe in that."

"In a situation like this anything is possible..."

"Could you possibly continue living then," she started to haggle.

"Can't have it all, sweetheart," he took her hand and wrapped his fingers between hers.

Suddenly it dawned to Mila, what he was referring to. She had noticed how he looked at her lately, not as a kid anymore, definitely not as the ugliest turian, like the ugly duckling, she had grown into a beautiful swan.

"You could, Zaeed," she said sincerely and squeezed his hand, "I mean it."

"I know," he rested his head above hers, "but we know better."

As much as Zaeed didn't want to change the topic, he lost ever more feeling in his body, the end was nearing.

"Milagros, tell Alexander that I'm sorry for the way I let things to go and I am proud of him, always kept an eye of the man he has grown, promise me you'll live to do that."

"You can tell that to him yourself, Zaeed," she tried to argue the last time.

"And tell Garrus, I'll be waiting at that bar."

"I will," she could not disobey him.

"Milagros, stay the goddamn fearless like you are," he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, "Never blame yourself for me, better to die like this, blaze of glory, a beautiful girl in my arms, than to perish quietly and remember I'll be looking after you all from there..." he couldn't take another breath.

She felt him twitch and life leaving his body, his blood slowing down and his last heartbeat, Zaeed's lifeless body collapsed over her and Mila channeled out all other thoughts besides staying alive, her brains last line of self preservation.

It must have been a million years, so it seemed in her head, when the shooting stopped and a familiar voice called out, "Mila !" Finally she dared to move, Mila pushed Zaeed's body off of her and placed it gently to the floor, her hands stayed on his bloody chest, their fingers still locked around each others.

"Milagros ?" the voice called again, it was Garrus. Mila felt safe enough to return to the moment, tears started to pour out of her eyes, she would have signed Garrus but he already saw her and rushed to her, she was aware of that. Garrus would have stopped with terror seeing his old friend's motionless body but there was someone even more important to him there, he knelt next to Mila and wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you okay, Mila ?" he asked with fear of it not being so.

Mila wanted to reply that she was fine but all she could do was to sob and cry. Garrus pulled her even closer to himself, "I'm here, I'm here now," he tried to console her whilst still trying to figure out what had happened.

X

The light were turned low and everything was so silent, an eerily unfamiliar sight for Garrus, usually when Mila was home there was life with her everywhere, light and noise. Right now she was just sitting there, on the floor, quietly and stoically, he wasn't surprised about that. Garrus sat next to Mila and took her into his caring hug.

"Milagros," he sighed heavily, Mila snugged into the safest place she knew, his embrace.

"Dad," she said quietly.

"How are you, baby-bird ?"

"Not good, but they gave me drugs at the hospital, it's all numb," she sounded really tranquil and had stopped to tremble, mostly because of the sedatives, "I still can't believe it yet."

"I know," Garrus was on the verge of breaking down himself, he clenched to her a bit stronger.

"Oh, daddy, I know how much you have lost already and now Zaeed, it was all my fault, I was stupid, forgot to take my extra clips with...how do I live on knowing that ?"

"You live on knowing, that he gave his life so you could live, I would have done the same in a heartbeat."

X

Mila took it upon herself, that Zaeed got a farewell he deserved to, she organized the whole thing almost single handedly. She just took the atrium and everything else, she send a note everyone she could think of, a special one To Alexander, his had been a long time when she had worn her most formal clothes, she even had her Vakarian-tribe facepaint on. When everyone else had finished their speeches, she knew it was her turn and even though just a few people were still paying attention . Almost reluctantly, to believe that this was the final goodbye, she approached his casket. Mila knelt next to the meaningless box, holding Zaeed's lifeless body, in some way it meant nothing to her.

He looked so peaceful in there, like sleeping, a part of Mila wanted to rip open the lid and wake him up and all would be as it was again. All she could do was to place her hand on the glass over his face.

"Goodbye Zaeed," she said calmly, " we can only hope that one day we'll become smarter, stronger and better and earn to follow you on this new journey."

X

She noticed him from across the room, he looked exactly like she had pictured Zaeed had looked when he was younger. Younger and handsomer, as Zaeed liked to say, now he was just too handsome to be young.

Mila approached him, she had seen him in the past, but had no idea how he would react.

"He wanted you to have these," she said and handed out a piece of armor, "the rest is in my place."

"Thank you,"he replied and took the piece.

X

She stood next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, "He wasn't alone you know, I was there," she smiled, a surprise to herself, "I was there, it was a good death, he told me and I didn't believe him," Mila's tone turned to a numb one, or she would have started to sob again, "I'm glad you came, I promised him that I will tell you that his last thought was of you, he loved you a lot, always."

"I almost didn't, I was afraid he didn't like me," he replied with sadness in his voice, "I wish I had the courage to come here earlier and get to know him."

"You two are so alike, he thought you didn't like him, I hope you don't mind...when I found the vids he made for you, I couldn't but to watch them."

"I don't mind," he took a hold of her hand, wrapping his fingers between hers,"And thank you for doing all of this, Mila."

"It was the least I could do," she closed her eyes to try to hold her tears back, "I wish this nightmare will end and Zaeed will walk in the door and complain about me not showing up at training again, I would never miss ever again."

"Some things we can't change," he clenched her hand a bit stronger.

"I know," she raised her head and looked him straight in the eyes, "And damn if I'm gonna make it be a waste," she looked away.

"What ?" he knew it meant something else. She looked back, "You have his eyes...eye..you have both of 'em." and drowned into these. Quite unexpectedly Mila stopped seeing them as two broken people, a new feeling crawled into her, like a thousand butterflies hatched in her stomach, she had never felt that way before.

"Don't ever look straight in these eyes of her's," Zaeed had warned Lex from one of the last vids he had recorded, "it's not her goddamn fault, that's just how she was born... it's like a sweet fucking poison, you'll drown in it and it'll kill you and you'll let it...you'll fucking love it..." unfortunately he forgot that warning before it was too late.

Mila wanted it to feel weirder, he even smelled like Zaeed, but she let it happen, let him lean closer and kiss her. It was her first kiss ever, she didn't know exactly what to , so she just let him explore her, feeling her knees go weak and a tingling sensation grow all over her body. Instincts took over and she replied to the kiss as her body dictated. Lex pulled Mila tightly next to himself, lifted her up and pinned against a wall nearby, she wrapped her legs around his waist. Their kiss lasted for about five minutes, he sided his hand down to her waist, then he remembered that she was only fifteen. He put her down and let go of her, "I'm sorry," he said, "I don't know what came over me."

"Just don't tell my dad," she didn't know what else to say, "He tends to be a bit over protective."

And just as quickly as Lex Massani appeared in her life, he also disappeared from her life. Leaving Mila unable to sleep or think straight, just the memories of both she almost had.

Ten years later.

Garrus felt a slight tap on his shoulder, at first he didn't remember how to react. Nobody, absolutely nobody, ever cut in when he was dancing with Milagros.

"May, I," a young man asked him. Garrus looked back at Mila, and handed her over after receiving an agreeing nod from her.

"You look so beautiful, Milagros," Mila's new dance partner complimented her.

"Thanks," she replied cautiously and tried to figure where could she have known him from.

"You don't remember me ?" he knew.

"Not really," Mila had to admit.

"I'm not surprised, it's been almost ten years," it started to dawn to Mila a bit, "since my dad's funeral."

Half of her wanted to almost fall down, the half that still felt the pain of that time so clearly, the other half tried to hold some composure, the half that had healed a bit. It was Zaeed's son, Lex.

"I'm sorry, that time is a bit fuzzy in my memory," heavy drugs, to help her survive the simplest everyday tasks, and time had seriously corroded her memory, mixing up fact and fiction. She gathered herself as best as she could; "What brings you here ?"

"I have gotten ten years worth of invitations to the ball, so finally decided to check out what's it about."

"Liar," Mila rolled her eyes.

"And the reception is lovely," Lex responded with a joke and Mila couldn't but to smile.

"Nobody just comes to the Reef, after ten years, without a reason."

"That wasn't really specified on the invitation."

"Hu-huh," Mila had met a worthy adversary.

"I'm actually thinking of staying for couple of days, if you have some time could you maybe show me around ?"

"Well this is the atrium, downstairs is the state and record hall, to your left are the docks and right the market district, that's pretty much it."

"Just a drink then ?" he detected hesitation in her, "Just a friendly drink."

"Well, then," the song ended an Mila excused herself, "15 o'clock by the main gate."

"It's a date," Lex declared without thinking much about his words, made Mila squint, "Not a date."

"That's pretty good, Vakarian," Lex startled Mila as she was practicing her shot down at the shuttle bay, "You're pretty good with that."

"Oh please I had my first gun before my first pacifier," she laughed and holstered the gun, "Watch and learn, Massani," she pulled the gun out and hit a drone moving under the ceiling, without even looking at it.

"Something your dad and I invented together," she said, "he called it "miracles happen"."

"Really ?"

"Stand here," she instructed, "I am a helluva shot but I had trouble remembering to take my gun with me, or if they know you emptied your ammo...anyway," she stepped behind him and stood against him, "You can only target two guys, in one shot," he could hear Mila take his spare gun out, she raised his arm up, holding hers underneath.

"Aim something," she ordered him, he aimed his own gun and felt Mila's hand following him exactly, "One two three," she whispered and they both took a shot. He was amazed, that they both hit the target, Lex his and Mila another about five meters from it, "Boom four guys at once," Mila gloated, "Or if you a had a rocket launcher strapped to your back, it's a helluva surprise."

"Clever, Vakarian," Lex smiled and turned around, so quickly that Mila was about to stumble, he caught her by the waist and pulled her back against himself. Mila looked straight into his eyes, fearless as she was.

"Clever, Massani," she didn't lose her cool.

"Oh, tell me something I don't know."

"Smooth," at that moment neither of them really got who was trying to over do who.

"And charming," he winked at her, Mila wasn't sure if Lex was really being charming or just sleazy.

"Anything else ?" she went fishing for the answer.

"Well, since you haven't moved, besides these pretty lips of yours yet, Vakarian, guess I'm also irresistible."

Only now did Mila notice that they were still standing next to eachother, his hand around her. And actually she didn't mind, in fact she kinda liked it.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, Massani, you are trying to get into my pants," Mila flirted back, with her subtlety.

"And what if I am ?" he wrapped his other arm around her and swayed her hips seductively.

"You just might succeed," she rested her hands on his shoulders.

"Not many can have a piece of this you know," Lex hinted to himself.

"I already had a piece," Mila raised her eyebrows.

"You remember ?"

"Of course I do," Mila traveled back in time, "Now don't think I'm weird or something, I just have a really protective dad and your dad, yeah I was sixteen then, but that was my first kiss."

"That's adorable."

"I'm surprised YOU still remember that."

"That WAS something special," he was totally serious.

"You ARE charming," she slid one of her hands up to his neck, "Slightly slow, but charming."

"Slow ?"

"I'm throwing myself at you and the only thing you do is keep talking..." Mila's sentence was cut off by Lex lifting her up and planting a long kiss on her.

"Hmm," he said after setting her back down, "Have you been practicing ?"

"Dumbass," Mila stepped on his foot.

"I had that coming," he didn't even mind,

"What are these colors ?" he asked her.

"Green is the area of the former Omega 4 relay occupy right now, the Reef," Mila slided her hand over the area on the map, "blue is where I've been, safe areas, yellow is out of reach, red areas are not safe to enter and orange is unexplored, I've mapped it with drones."

"Are you still alive in there ?" a deep baritone voice asked over the com.

"Yes, officer, two coffees please ?" Mila replied wearily, she was already hallucinating from the lack of air.

"Who's this ?" the voice asked again.

"I'm a pretty bird," she giggled into the com,Grunt had enough sense left to take over, "Lex, where are you ?"

"In we're on the other side of the door."

"Hurry, we're running out of air."

"Gotcha."

"And mind..." he murmured to himself.

"Am I turning into a vorcha ?" Mila asked him with a fear in her voice.

Grunt tried to support Mila as much as he could, he couldn't be happier to hand her over and fall down in the safe hallway. Mila just half registered to be seated and someone holding a oxygen mask to her face. She at first pushed it away, "You smell like green," she told to her helper.

"That's a color," he replied, she recognized the same voice from the com.

"Is loud a number ?"

"No."

She looked to her other side, said; "See, I don't have enough credits to buy that," and fainted.

"What's this ?" Lex asked and twirled a small bone like object between his fingers.

"Oh, that," Mila said, "That's your dad."

He dropped the bone on the counter, "What ?"

That didn't seem to phase Mila at all, she picked the bone up and looked at it, "Waxin' nostalics, as he would have said, that was the only bone not smashed when he lost his leg."


	2. 2

She didn't remember the times when the reapers were around, Mila was only five when they left. Things in the Galaxy went sour quickly and they had to leave Palaven just two years after that. Actually Garrus was given a choice to give up Mila, just a stupid hobby as everyone saw her, or leave with her. There was nothing to choose in his mind, Mila was rooted deep into his heart, there was no way he would give her away. To him this wasn't a game, from the moment he had found her from the ruins of the Citadel he had fallen for her and to him there was no difference between Mila, his father, his sister and her kids. More than that, Garrus would have given his life for her and that wouldn't have been enough. This was a father's love for his daughter, regardless of their origin species.

Garrus would have preferred to move to the Citadel for Mila's sake, but only rubble remained from it. And after defeating a common enemy all of the races lowered back to fighting between each others, the voices that called out for peace and unity again would be silenced by the overpowering roar of everyone from themselves. There was one place in the Galaxy that had never exactly belonged to anyone, who would have predicted that the most renegade corner of the galaxy would become the neutralist in the end. He almost had not chosen to go to Omega, for he knew too much how life there was, but Garrus learned that an old friend he trusted was there trying to keep it organized. That gave him hope, he knew that with Zaeed Massani, then a self proclaimed sheriff of Omega, they could make it halfway decent to live in, even good enough for Milagros. And as far as Mila herself saw it, she had a totally normal childhood and upbringing, well as normal as one could have in that kind of a world.

She wasn't the only child in Omega, but she was fearless and never let herself be in debt with saying something witty back, especially when organizing Garrus and Zaeed safely home after they had "a few" drinks. She had to be like that, Mila thought, she had no chance with her looks, she thought.

"If I was fifty years younger," Zaeed used to say her, "I would make Garrus my father in-law in a week."

"I would let him," Garrus did not argue.

Mila wanted to slap them both but instead said; "We'll just have the ugliest kids, haven't you heard, I'm the ugliest turian in Omega," and then she was only about fourteen. She never took any of that seriously, she knew well they were only joking. Zaeed was almost like Milas second father, he had kind of unofficially adopted MIla to fill a gap in his life. After returning to Omega he learned that he had a son, almost eight years by that time, from a fruitful one-night-stand. He was famous now, so she looked him up and for some time they even tried to have a life together. Unfortunately he wasn't what she had hoped him to be, so she returned to Earth with their son. Zaeed couldn't never had pictured himself as a father but after the loss he couldn't picture himself not being one, becoming forever broken in a whole new way. Feeling guilty for not being able to provide everything to his own son, he directed all these feeling towards Milagros.

Only flaw Mila might have had was a sense of positivity, she believed that everyone was good inside and trusted a bit too much , a trait she herself would have never seen as a flaw. Well no one in Omega dared to even touch her, it would have either been Garrus or Zaeed, one would shoot right away and the other would tortured at first, no one was certain which one would do which.

Sometimes she even forgot, that almost everyone else wanted to have a piece of Omega and it was under constant attacks, mostly the outer defenses could eliminate the danger to the station but sometimes, someone got in and things went to hell. It was one of these days, she had seen the attacks before, but that one changed her for forever.

Mila was sixteen then, she had left her gun home and went for a late evening walk. She got a gun pulled at her head, Mila had never been in that kind of a danger before, she held her breath trying to wrap her thoughts around being dead.

"Hey, assholes, I wouldn't do that," unexpectedly Zaeed appeared from around the corner, having a gun in both hands, "You okay, Mila ?"

She reacted with a delay,"Yeah."

"Walk here," he ordered her. She bit her lip, signaling that she was unarmed and started slowly step towards Zaeed.

"I have you in sight," he growled to the attackers, "One move and you'll be picking your entrails from the floor."

"What if we shoot ?"

"Dumbasses, she's the only thing keeping you alive right now."

Mila walked carefully pass Zaeed and hid behind his back, she knew he will have some firepower strapped to his armors back-plate.

"So what are you going to do now," he almost yelled out, giving her a cover noise to unstrap and arm the gun. She peeked out from his side, sliding the gun out along his arm, working the shadow perfectly. A little trick that Mila had invented during her self-defense training with Zaeed. He aimed the gun with his arm and bend it towards himself, signaling Mila to shoot and also removing his hand from the firing zone. The impact blast took the attackers off their feet and gave Mila and Zaeed a window to escape.

They got ambushed from another corridor, in the last moment Zaeed covered Mila with his body, protecting her from the shot that now landed into his back, tossing them into a dark corner. Zaeed cradled Mila under himself, he had a plan.

"Play dead," he ordered her, "Live another day."

"What about you, Zaeed," she wanted to cry out and get help but she knew if she would make a noise or moved, they would find her and surely kill the both of them.

"It's fine," he tried to lift her spirit, "This'll be a good death."

"No," she felt the warmth of his blood on her skin, soaking through her clothes, she pressed her head next to his elbow and tried not to cry.

"You were wonderful, darling, made this old soldier's last year's worth living."

"Why can't you live more years, my wonderful is just starting up."

"I bet," he smirked through pain, that had a oddly calming influence, "Maybe in next life."

"Never figured you'll believe in that."

"In a situation like this anything is possible..."

"Could you possibly continue living then," she started to haggle.

"Can't have it all, sweetheart," he took her hand and wrapped his fingers between hers.

Suddenly it dawned to Mila, what he was referring to. She had noticed how he looked at her lately, not as a kid anymore, definitely not as the ugliest turian, like the ugly duckling, she had grown into a beautiful swan.

"You could, Zaeed," she said sincerely and squeezed his hand, "I mean it."

"Could you really picture us together," he rested his head above hers, "I'm ancient, ruined by every-fucking-thing in this world, and you are still just a rosebud."

"I can be ruined too, uknow," she could be as stubborn as he was, "We could retire to somewhere warm, we'll roll our wheelchair down to the beach and we'll get drunk and shoot at things."

"Wheelchairs ?"

"Uknow, when we're old and infirm, and we'll piss off our kids with talking embarrassing stuff about them to our grandkids."

That made him laugh, and hurt, "Girl, you are unbelievable."

"Damn right," Mila raised her head and kissed Zaeed on the cheek.

As much as Zaeed didn't want to change the topic, he lost ever more feeling in his body, the end was nearing.

"Milagros, tell Alexander that I'm sorry for the way I let things to go and I am proud of him, always kept an eye of the man he has grown, promise me you'll live to do that."

"You can tell that to him yourself, Zaeed."

"And tell Garrus, I'll be waiting at that bar."

"I promise," she could not disobey him.

"Milagros, stay the goddamn fearless like you are," he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, "I'll be with you always..." he couldn't take another breath.

She felt him twitch and life leaving his body, his blood slowing down and his last heartbeat, Zaeed's lifeless body collapsed over her and Mila channeled out all other thoughts besides staying alive, her brains last line of self preservation.

It must have been a million years, so it seemed in her head, when the shooting stopped and a familiar voice called out, "Mila !" Finally she dared to move, Mila pushed Zaeed's body off of her and placed it gently to the floor, her hands stayed on his bloody chest, their fingers still locked around each others.

"Milagros ?" the voice called again, it was Garrus. Mila felt safe enough to return to the moment, tears started to pour out of her eyes, she would have signed Garrus but he already saw her and rushed to her, she was aware of that. Garrus would have stopped with terror seeing his old friend's motionless body but there was someone even more important to him there, he knelt next to Mila and wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you okay, Mila ?" he asked with fear of it not being so.

Mila wanted to reply that she was fine but all she could do was to sob and cry. Garrus pulled her even closer to himself, "I'm here, I'm here now," he tried to console her whilst still trying to figure out what had happened.

The light were turned low and everything was so silent, an eerily unfamiliar sight for Garrus, usually when Mila was home there was life with her everywhere, light and noise. Right now she was just sitting there, on the floor, quietly and stoically, he wasn't surprised about that. Garrus sat next to Mila and took her into his caring hug.

"Milagros," he sighed heavily, Mila snugged into the safest place she knew, into his embrace.

"Daddy," she said quietly, "The more I think about it, the more I feel that it's okay.

Mila took it upon herself, that Zaeed got a farewell he deserved to, she organized the whole thing almost singlehandedly. She almost told, not asked, to Aria, what she needed, the atrium and everything else, she send a note everyone she could think of, a special one To Alexander, his son.It had been a long time when she had worn her most formal clothes, she even had her Vakarian-tribe facepaint on. When everyone else had finished their speeches, she knew it was her turn and even though just a few people were still paying attention . Almost reluctantly, to believe that this was the final goodbye, she approached his casket. Mila knelt next to the meaningless box, holding Zaeed's lifeless body, in some way it meant nothing to her.

He looked so peaceful in there, like sleeping, a part of Mila wanted to rip open the lid and wake him up and all would be as it was again. All she could do was to place her hand on the glass over his face.

"Goodbye Zaeed," she said calmly, "we can only hope that one day we'll become smarter, stronger and better and earn to follow you on this new journey.

She noticed him from across the room, he looked exactly like she had pictured Zaeed had looked when he was younger. Younger and handsomer, as Zaeed liked to say, now he was just too handsome to be young.

Mila approached him, she had seen him in the past, but had no idea how he would react.

"He wanted you to have these," she said and handed out a piece of armor, "the rest is in my place."

"Thank you,"he replied and took the piece.

She stood next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, "He wasn't alone you know, I was there," she smiled, a surprise to herself, "I was there, it was a good death, he told me and I didn't believe him, now I do," Mila's tone turned to a numb one, or she would have started to sob again, "I'm glad you came, I promised him that I will tell you that his last thought was of you, he loved you a lot, always."

"I almost didn't, I was afraid he didn't like me," he replied with sadness in his voice, "I wish I had the courage to come here earlier and get to know him."

"You two are so alike, he thought you didn't like him, I hope you don't mind...when I found the vids he made for you, I couldn't but to listen to them."

"I don't mind," he took a hold of her hand, wrapping his fingers between hers,"And thank you for doing all of this, Mila."

"It was the least I could do," she closed her eyes to try to hold her tears back, "I wish this nightmare will end and Zaeed will walk in the door and complain about me not showing up at training again, I would never miss ever again."

"Some things we can't change," he clenched her hand a bit stronger.

"I know," she raised her head and looked him straight in the eyes, "And damn if I'm gonna make it be a waste," she chuckled a bit and looked away.

"What ?" he knew it meant something else. She looked back, "You have his eyes...eye..you have both of 'em." and drowned into these. Quite unexpectedly Mila stopped seeing them as two broken people, a new feeling crawled into her, like a thousand butterflies hatched in her stomach, she had never felt that way before.

"Don't ever look straight in these emerald eyes of her's," Zaeed had warned Lex from one of the last vids he had recorded, "it's not her goddamn fault, that's just how she was born... it's like a sweet fucking poison, you'll drown in it and it'll kill you and you'll let it...you'll fucking love it..." unfortunately he forgot that warning before it was too late.

Mila wanted it to feel weirder, he even smelled like Zaeed, but she let it happen, let him lean closer and kiss her. It was her first kiss ever, she didn't know exactly what to , so she just let him explore her, feeling her knees go weak and a tingling sensation grow all over her body. Instincts took over and she replied to the kiss as her body dictated. Lex pulled Mila tightly next to himself, lifted her up and pinned against a wall nearby, she wrapped her legs around his waist. Their kiss lasted for about five minutes, he sided his hand down to her waist, then he remembered that she was only fifteen. He put her down and let go of her, "I'm sorry," he said, "I don't know what came over me."

"Just don't tell my dad," she didn't know what else to say, "He tends to be a bit over protective."

And just as quickly as Lex Massani appeared in her life, he also disappeared from her life. Leaving Mila unable to sleep or think straight for the longest time, she was fifteen and in love. On one hand he had only a memory of Lex, but a lifetime of memories of Zaeed, and they looked so much alike, Mila also had pieces of Zaeed's belongings, she held these close. on the other hand she had her logical thinking, and she was torn between feelings of with who exactly was she in love with. She wanted it to be Lex but in the corner of her mind she was afraid that he was only a substitute.


	3. 3

They searched the ruins looking for him, the savior of the Galaxy, losing hope with every passing second. A week passed, they had combed the largest pieces left from the Citadel, there was no chance left of finding him alive, of anyone for that matter.

"Let's head back," he told to his team, "There's no-one alive here," he had a great sadness in his voice.

He took a last look back, to say goodbye in his soul, when suddenly he heard a faint voice from the wreckage. At first he thought he was hearing things. But he decided to give hope a chance and took a step back to confirm was the voice he heard real or not. To his utter joy he heard another faint cry and then another, from the far back of the room.

"Wait," he ordered his team and almost sprinted to the direction of the voice.

He pulled up pieces of rubble, wondering how could they have not looked under there before. The last sheet of metal revealed a bundle of cloth, it moved slightly. He removed a piece of cloth and saw the smallest pink hand he had ever seen reaching for him. He picked the bundle up gently and stood up.

"What did you find, Vakarian ?" a puzzled turian from his team asked,

"A survivor," he replied and unwrapped the cloth a bit more, the head of a human newborn baby appeared. He couldn't believe that, a human baby had survived for a week, with nothing but air. Still there it was, weak and pale, but still alive, breathing and looking straight at him, with biggest eyes ever.

"A small human," he added, the whole team came to see was it really happening. He raised his glance, "Men, back to the ship, we must get him to the infirmary fast."

"Mister Vakarian," a nurse approached him.

"Yes," he replied, "How is he ?"

"He is a she, and she is a true miracle, besides for being extremely dehydrated and weak she seems to be fine, she will have the best care with us."

"Can I see HER."

"Just follow me," the nurse led him to the next room. In the incubator in the end of the room, there she was tiny, pink and barely moving. As if she had seen him, she immediately reached toward him again and smiled.

"Recover well, tiny one," he said to her and rested his hand on top of the glass roof of the incubator.

"There is one more matter, mister Vakarian," the nurse changed his tone to a more serious one, "We need you to fill in some forms about finding her."

"Offcourse."

"And if you wish you can name her."

"Me, why ?"

"She's not registered, and our DNA-database has no match for her parents the state will become her caregiver."

"Isn't there nothing else you can do, run an add or whatever ?"

"I'm sorry sir, this might have been so before the end, but now there is nothing we can do, maybe her birth parents will look for her, then we can assign her back, until then there's nothing more we can do."

He took another look at her, she truly was all alone in this universe. So strong and so powerless to change what will happen to her.

"And if no-one comes forth ?"

"for starters she'll be placed in an orphanage, with the times now i believe after some time she might find someone to adopt her...would you like to name her or the state will choose a name for her, I personally think it's a nice way to send her off."

He took another look at her, though he was already sold long ago, "I will take her," he prompted out.

"Excuse me ?"

"I will take her home, she will have a home, she deserves it, is this possible ?"

"a turian adopting a human child, I have never heard of that before."

"Not the first miracle here."

"Mila," he knocked on her door, "Milagros, how long ?"

"Just a second I have to change my dress," she replied from the other side of the door.

"Didn't you change the dress half an hour ago ?"

"That was a different fucking dress."

After another five minutes she finally emerged from her room, looking as she had just thrown on a random dress and combed her hair once.

"How do I look ?"

"That took you three hours ?"

"This level of randomness takes time," she apologize her own way.

"Let's get going, we're late."

"It's my birthday, I can be late."

Everyone they knew were there and as always it wasn't neither a quiet nor boring party.

"Happy birthday, small one," he hugged her, trying to be gentle but still lifting her up from the floor, he put her back down and let go.

"They say gifts are proper," he handed her a small box.

"Thank you, Grunt," she took a hold of the box, "Did you get my message ?"

"At the last moment..."

"Good," she cut Grunt off, "Let's talk about it later, somewhere quiet," and winked to him.

"Oh, yeah," Grunt got the hint, he took a quick look at Garrus, who walked next to them, "Later."

"What's happening, kids ?" Garrus asked.

"Grunt got me a gift," she turned the conversation to another topic, Mila was really good with words, and showed Garrus the box.

"That's lovely," Garrus was already skeptical seeing these two together. Always getting into trouble, sure Grunt took the blame to himself mostly all of the times, but Garrus knew that he was just an enabler to Mila, she was the mastermind behind the crazy stunts.

"And now, I'll get us drinks," Grunt escaped.

"Sooo...you and Grunt ?" Garrus asked Mila and made her blush.

"What about me and Grunt ?" she evaded the answer.

"Usually you tell me what you two are up to," Garrus was the one from whom Mila had learned her bullshitting skills, "Is there something more happening between you two ? Not that I would have anything against krogan grandchildren."

"Ewww," Mila frowned, "Dad, really !?"

"But you would look so cute together."

If looks could kill, the one tha Mila shot towards Garrus, would have struck him down in an instant.

Mila closed the door of her room, she took a deep breath and tried to look less nervous.

"I couldn't tell my dad yet," she started, "I found Shepard, what she is now."

"Shepard ?" Grunt splurged his hands, "It's been twenty five years, she died on the Citadel."

"Why did the Reapers left ?"

"I guess they gave up and ran with their tails between their legs."

"What if I know, that they left because we fucked up and Shepard made them leave, so that no one could get a upper hand because of the Reapers."

"How do you know that ?"

"I've been buying salvaged pieces of the Citadel past years, I told my dad, that I'm saving up for the future with my delivery business but actually I've spent it all and last month I bought a piece that turned out to be a piece of the mainframe server," she sat on the table to continue, "I powered it up and it started talking to me."

"How drunk were you ?"

"I'm trying to be serious here," she started to laugh, "Yes in a sense Shepard did die but something of her merged with the Reapers and she's in control of them now, I know that sounds crazy."

"More than crazy."

"It gets worse, I'm gonna bring the Galaxy back together, she promised to return if I succeed...and my dad can go back to Palaven, I know how much he wants that."

"And you alone are going to bring everyone back together ?" Grunt laughed.

"Well not alone, that's why I asked you if you knew a gun I could hire, I don't have lot left but you know I can also handle a gun, so it will be like a part time job and it needs to be someone human, you know how they are with aliens in Sol Alliance and someone who can be trusted."

"If i see you succeed, I will build you a town of Tuchanka," Grunt turned serious, "Would like to accompany you myself, damn these humans, and don't worry about the payment, I have that covered, Garrus would kill me if he finds out that I recommended someone who got you killed, do you need a ship too ?"

"I'm going light at first, just recon, see what could be done."

"What ARE you going to do ?"

"I have plan but I'm more worried about what to tell my dad."

"You do have weird hobbies, small one."

She didn't remember the times when the reapers were around, Mila was only five when they left. Things in the Galaxy went sour quickly and they had to leave Palaven just two years after that. Actually Garrus was given a choice to give up Mila, just a stupid hobby as everyone saw her, or leave with her. There was nothing to choose in his mind, Mila was rooted deep into his heart, there was no way he would give her away. To him this wasn't a game, from the moment he had found her from the ruins of the Citadel he had fallen for her and to him there was no difference between Mila, his father, his sister and her kids. More than that, Garrus would have given his life for her and that wouldn't have been enough. This was a father's love for his daughter, regardless of their origin species.

Garrus would have preferred to move to the Citadel for Mila's sake, but only rubble remained from it. And after defeating a common enemy all of the races lowered back to fighting between each others, the voices that called out for peace and unity again would be silenced by the overpowering roar of everyone from themselves. There was one place in the Galaxy that had never exactly belonged to anyone, who would have predicted that the most renegade corner of the galaxy would become the neutralist in the end. He almost had not chosen to go to Omega, for he knew too much how life there was, but Garrus learned that an old friend he trusted was there trying to keep it organized. That gave him hope, he knew that with Zaeed Massani, then a self proclaimed sheriff of Omega, they could make it halfway decent to live in, even good enough for Milagros. And as far as Mila herself saw it, she had a totally normal childhood and upbringing, well as normal as one could have in that kind of a world.

She wasn't the only child in Omega, but she was fearless and never let herself be in debt with saying something witty back, especially when organizing Garrus and Zaeed safely home after they had "a few" drinks. She had to be like that, Mila thought, she had no chance with her looks, she thought.

"If I was fifty years younger," Zaeed used to say her, "I would make Garrus my father in-law in a week."

"I would let him," Garrus did not argue.

Mila wanted to slap them both but instead said; "We'll just have the ugliest kids, haven't you heard, I'm the ugliest turian in Omega," and then she was only about fourteen. She never took any of that seriously, she knew well they were only joking. Zaeed was almost like Milas second father, he had kind of unofficially adopted MIla to fill a gap in his life. After returning to Omega he learned that he had a son, almost eight years by that time, from a fruitful one-night-stand. He was famous now, so she looked him up and for some time they even tried to have a life together. Unfortunately he wasn't what she had hoped him to be, so she returned to Earth with their son. Zaeed couldn't never had pictured himself as a father but after the loss he couldn't picture himself not being one, becoming forever broken in a whole new way. Feeling guilty for not being able to provide everything to his own son, he directed all these feeling towards Milagros.

Only flaw Mila might have had was a sense of positivity, she believed that everyone was good inside and trusted a bit too much , a trait she herself would have never seen as a flaw. Well no one in Omega dared to even touch her, it would have either been Garrus or Zaeed, one would shoot right away and the other would tortured at first, no one was certain which one would do which.

Sometimes she even forgot, that almost everyone else wanted to have a piece of Omega and it was under constant attacks, mostly the outer defenses could eliminate the danger to the station but sometimes, someone got in and things went to hell. It was one of these days, she had seen the attacks before, but that one changed her for forever.

Mila was fifteen then, she had left her gun home and went for a late evening walk. She got a gun pulled at her head, Mila had never been in that kind of a danger before, she held her breath trying to wrap her thoughts around being dead.

"I wouldn't do that," unexpectedly Zaeed appeared from around the corner, having a gun in both hands, "You okay, Mila ?"

She reacted with a delay,"Yeah."

"Walk here," he ordered her. She bit her lip, signaling that she was unarmed and started slowly step towards Zaeed.

"I have you in sight," he growled to the attackers, "One move and you'll be picking your entrails from the floor."

"What if we shoot ?"

"Dumbasses, she's the only thing keeping you alive right now."

Mila walked carefully pass Zaeed and hid behind his back, she knew he will have some firepower strapped to his armors back-plate.

"So what are you going to do now," he almost yelled out, giving her a cover noise to unstrap and arm the gun. She peeked out from his side, sliding the gun out along his arm, working the shadow perfectly. A little trick that Mila had invented during her self-defense training with Zaeed. He aimed the gun with his arm and bend it towards himself, signaling Mila to shoot and also removing his hand from the firing zone. The impact blast took the attackers off their feet and gave Mila and Zaeed a window to escape.

They got ambushed from another corridor, in the last moment Zaeed covered Mila with his body, protecting her from the shot that now landed into his back, tossing them into a dark corner. Zaeed cradled Mila under himself, he had a plan.

"Play dead," he ordered her, "Live another day."

"What about you, Zaeed," she wanted to cry out and get help but she knew if she would make a noise or moved, they would find her and surely kill the both of them, "Please don't..." she couldn't even say it.

"It's fine," he tried to lift her spirit, "This'll be a good death."

"No," she felt the warmth of his blood on her skin, soaking through her clothes, she pressed her head next to his elbow and tried not to cry.

"You were wonderful, darling, made this old soldier's last year's worth living."

"Why can't you live more years, my wonderful is just starting up."

"I bet," he smirked through pain, that had a oddly calming influence, "Maybe in next life."

"Never figured you'll believe in that."

"In a situation like this anything is possible..."

"Could you possibly continue living then," she started to haggle.

"Can't have it all, sweetheart," he took her hand and wrapped his fingers between hers.

Suddenly it dawned to Mila, what he was referring to. She had noticed how he looked at her lately, not as a kid anymore, definitely not as the ugliest turian, like the ugly duckling, she had grown into a beautiful swan.

"You could, Zaeed," she said sincerely and squeezed his hand, "I mean it."

"Could you really picture us together," he rested his head above hers, "I'm ancient, ruined by everything in this world, and you are still just a rosebud."

"I can be ruined too, uknow," she could be as stubborn as he was. As much as Zaeed didn't want to change the topic, he lost ever more feeling in his body, the end was nearing.

"Milagros, tell Alexander that I'm sorry for the way I let things to go and I am proud of him, always kept an eye of the man he has grown, promise me you'll live to do that."

"You can tell that to him yourself, Zaeed."

"And tell Garrus, I'll be waiting at that bar."

"I promise," she could not disobey him.

"Milagros, stay the goddamn fearless like you are," he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, "I'll be with you always..." he couldn't take another breath.

She felt him twitch and life leaving his body, his blood slowing down and his last heartbeat, Zaeed's lifeless body collapsed over her and Mila channeled out all other thoughts besides staying alive, her brains last line of self preservation.

It must have been a million years, so it seemed in her head, when the shooting stopped and a familiar voice called out, "Milagros !" Finally she dared to move, Mila pushed Zaeed's body off of her and placed it gently to the floor, her hands stayed on his bloody chest.

"Milagros ?" the voice called again, it was Garrus. Mila felt safe enough to return to the moment, tears started to pour out of her eyes, she would have signed Garrus but he already saw her and rushed to her, she was aware of that. Garrus would have stopped with terror seeing his old friend's motionless body but there was someone even more important to him there, he knelt next to Mila and wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you okay, Mila ?" he asked with fear of it not being so.

Mila wanted to reply that she was fine but all she could do was to sob and cry. Garrus pulled her even closer to himself, "I'm here, I'm here now," he tried to console her whilst still trying to figure out what had happened.

Mila took it upon herself, that Zaeed got a farewell he deserved to, she organized the whole thing almost singlehandedly. She almost told, not asked, to Aria, what she needed, the atrium and everything else, she send a note everyone she could think of, a special one To Alexander, his son.

She noticed him from across the room, he looked exactly like she had pictured Zaeed had looked when he was younger.

Mila approached him, she had seen him in the past, but had no idea how he would react.

"He wanted you to have these," she said and handed out a piece of armor, "the rest is in my place."

"Thank you,"he replied and took the piece.

"I'm sorry," Mila was about to burst into tears a couple escaped from her eyes.

She stood next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, "He wasn't alone you know, I was there," she smiled, a surprise to herself, "I was there, it was a good death, he told me and I didn't believe him, now I do," Mila's tone turned to a numb one, or she would have started to sob again, "I'm glad you came, I promised him that I will tell you that his last thought was of you, he loved you a lot, always."

"I almost didn't, I was afraid he didn't like me," he replied with sadness in his voice, "I wish I had the courage to come here earlier and get to know him."

"You two are so alike, he thought you didn't like him, I hope you don't mind...when I found the vids he made for you, I couldn't but to listen to them."

"I don't mind," he took a hold of her hand, wrapping his fingers between hers,"And thank you for doing all of this, Mila."

"It was the least I could do," she closed her eyes to try to hold her tears back, "I wish this nightmare will end and Zaeed will walk in the door and complain about me not showing up at training again, I would never miss ever again."

"Some things we can't change," he clenched her hand a bit stronger.

"I know," she raised her head and looked him straight in the eyes, "And damn if I'm gonna make it be a waste," she chuckled a bit and looked away.

"What ?" he knew it meant something else. She looked back, "You have his eyes...eye..you have both of 'em." and drowned into these. Quite unexpectedly Mila stopped seeing them as two broken people, a new feeling crawled into her, like a thousand butterflies hatched in her stomach, she had never felt that way before.

"Don't ever look straight in these emerald eyes of her's," Zaeed had warned Lex from one of the last vids he had recorded, "it's not her goddamn fault, that's just how she was born... it's like a sweet fucking poison, you'll drown in it and it'll kill you and you'll let it...you'll fucking love it..." unfortunately he forgot that warning before it was too late.

Mila wanted it to feel weirder, he even smelled like Zaeed, but she let it happen, let him lean closer and kiss her. It was her first kiss ever, she didn't know exactly what to , so she just let him explore her, feeling her knees go weak and a tingling sensation grow all over her body. Instincts took over and she replied to the kiss as her body dictated. Lex pulled Mila tightly next to himself, lifted her up and pinned against a wall nearby, she wrapped her legs around his waist. Their kiss lasted for about five minutes, he sided his hand down to her waist, then he remembered that she was only fifteen. He put her down and let go of her, "I'm sorry," he said, "I don't know what came over me."

"Just don't tell my dad," she didn't know what else to say, "He tends to be a bit over protective."

And just as quickly as Lex Massani appeared in her life, he also disappeared from her life. Leaving Mila unable to sleep or think straight for the longest time, she was fifteen and in love. On one hand he had only a memory of Lex, but a lifetime of memories of Zaeed, and they looked so much alike, Mila also had pieces of Zaeed's belongings, she held these close. on the other hand she had her logical thinking, and she was torn between feelings of with who exactly was she in love with. She wanted it to be Lex but in the corner of her mind she was afraid that he was only a substitute.

Milagros had her travel gear on, she had a small backpack with her, she noticed Grunt from afar in the docks. She figured that the man standing next to was the gun Grunt had hired for her, at first she didn't recognize him. He turned around, didn't even notice her but Milagros was about to fall over, her heart skipped a beat and if it wasn't for Grunt to notice her, she might have ran away. She hadn't seen him for ten years, still could identify these brown eyes, it was Alexander Massani.

"Mila," Grunt waved at her, "The best for you," he pointed at the mercenary next to him.

"Lex Massani," he introduced himself to her.

"Mila Vakarian," she replied, "I believe we met a long time ago."

"At my dad's funeral," he remembered her, well recognized her name.

"I almost forgot," growled Grunt to himself, "It's been a long time."

On the shuttle Mila got a chance to take a closer look at Lex Massani. It had been about ten years, he looked even more like Zaeed, bigger and stronger, rougher and with more scars than the last time she saw him. She even recognized the armor he was wearing, it was Zaeed's old armor with some modifications. Mila almost felt like she traveled back in time, she remembered the feeling she had last felt back then.

"What ?" even his voice was deeper now.

Mila found that she had started smiling whilst looking at him, she didn't change her expression, "So when did you started doing this ? Figured always you'll end up in the Alliance."

"I was in there," he explained, "Didn't see eye to eye with what they started to stand for, decided to get something back for sticking my neck out."

"You are a mercenary ?"

"I do what needs to be done," he shrug his shoulders, "What gets me paid."

Mila was glad that the first part of her journey was a quiet one, Lex Massani had fallen asleep in his seat and she could work on her great plan on her omnitool without disturbance. She was honestly surprised of his ability to sleep through the twelve hour trip to the Widow Fueling Station, on the other hand life had taught her most always to expect the unexpected. Mila herself had to stretch her legs several times and sleep was the last thing on her agitated mind. She couldn't be happier reaching the end of that trip.

On the Fueling station they reached a small rental shuttle, "Well if, I'm wrong I'll be back soon and if not then a little later," she said and was planning to leave alone. Lex stopped the shuttle door from closing in front of him, "What do you think you're doing ?"

"I'll be right back."

"Grunt said not to let you out of sight," he stepped into the shuttle, "And I'm not planning to do that."

"He might trust you," Mila tried to argue, "But' I don't, I don't even know you, and this is too big."

"Well I don't trust you either," he sat down on one of the chairs, "That makes us even... your turn," sounding cocky as ever, pointing at her.

"Hmm, stubborn," Mila smirked, "I have a plan for that," she took something from her belt pocket. She leaned towards him and placed her hand on the back of his neck. He didn't know how to react to that awkward moment, started to almost lean towards Mila, until he felt a sting in his neck.

"The hell ?" he jerked himself away from her.

"I'm about to get the biggest fucking bullseye in the Galaxy on my back ," she explained whilst sitting down in the other chair, "Just a little extra insurance," she revealed a small metallic device on her neck, "If I can't trust you anymore, your head will explode, if my brain stops working, your head explodes, bailing out, if you're not checking in with me within two meters in four hours, your head explodes, if you try to remove or tamper with it, your head explodes" she turned to him, "In case you might get a bright idea to put a bullet in my head."

"Son of a bi..." he wanted to curse but simultaneously he was amazed of her tactical skills to prepare for everything, probably comes with the territory of growing up on Omega.

Nothing was in range of that shuttle, Mila had the most satisfied face on, there was something in range, the Mass Relay. In the back of her head she feared, that what the image of Shepard had told her was all bunch of bullshit, yet she hoped for the best again.

They reached the back side of the Relay and Mila sent out a message from the shuttle. Almost not believing her eyes she saw that a side panel of the huge structure started to light up and open.

"No way," she gasped air and a bit of the situation.

"What ?" her companion still couldn't believe any of what he was seeing.

"Fuck yeah," she lit up, "It worked."

Mila carefully landed the shuttle behind the closing doorway. "Outside atmosphere optimal," an artificial voice from the shuttle said, in a fraction of a second Mila unbuckled herself from the seat and stepped to the door of the shuttle. She took a deep breath and opened the door, Lex, right behind her, pulled his gun out, just in case for something to go wrong.

Her footsteps echoed across the empty shuttle bay, slowly the light turned on, until they couldn't make up where the room ended. Mila sent out some data with her omnitool, "Hello !" she yelled across the room.

"Hello ?" he almost whispered and pulled his gun out, who knows what kind of aliens could be here and how dangerous.

Suddenly a hologram appeared next to them, looking exactly like the picture of Commander Shepard that had appeared from the piece of citadel onto Mila's computer back home , "Hello, Vakarian, M."

"Who are you ?" Mila asked.

"I am the keeper of this Relay, I have taken a familiar form to you."

"Are you a VI or an AI ?"

"I am a subdirectory AI assigned to this Relay, you can lower your gun, Massani, A, there is no one else here."

"I need to repurpose this station, could you show us around ?"

"Certainly, Vakarian, M, just follow me."

He found her sitting on the table in the middle of her named soon-to-be-the-new-councils-meeting-room, she didn't react so he just sat next to her.

"How do YOU have the access codes here ?"

"I spent all I had on loot, last pieces of the Citadel, who wouldn't kill me to get these."

"That's pretty good, Vakarian," Lex startled Mila as she was practicing her shot down at the shuttle bay, "You're pretty good with that."

"Oh please I had my first gun before my first pacifier," she laughed and holstered the gun, "Watch and learn, Massani," she pulled the gun out and hit a drone moving under the ceiling, without even looking at it.

"I called it the backup shadow," she said, "Something your dad and I invented together."

"Really ?"

"Stand here," she instructed, "I am a helluva shot but I had trouble remembering to take my gun with me, or if they know you emptied your ammo...anyway," she stepped behind him and stood against him, "You can only target two guys, in one shot," he could hear Mila take his spare gun out, she raised his arm up, holding hers underneath.

"Aim something," she ordered him, he aimed his own gun and felt Mila's hand following him exactly, "One two three," she whispered and they both took a shot. He was amazed, that they both hit the target, Lex his and Mila another about five meters from it, "Boom four guys at once," Mila gloated, "Or if you a had a rocket launcher strapped to your back, it's a helluva surprise."

"Clever, Vakarian," Lex smiled and turned around, so quickly that Mila was about to stumble, he caught her by the waist and pulled her back against himself. Mila looked straight into his eyes, fearless as she was.

"Clever, Massani," she didn't lose her cool.

"Oh, tell me something I don't know."

"Smooth," at that moment neither of them really got who was trying to over do who.

"And charming," he winked at her, Mila wasn't sure if Lex was really being charming or just sleazy.

"Anything else ?" she went fishing for the answer.

"Well, since you haven't moved, besides these pretty lips of yours yet, Vakarian, guess I'm also irresistible."

Only now did Mila notice that they were still standing next to eachother, his hand around her. And actually she didn't mind, in fact she kinda liked it.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, Massani, you are trying to get into my pants," Mila flirted back.

"And what if I am ?" he wrapped his other arm around her and swayed her hips seductively.

"You just might succeed," she rested her hands on his shoulders.

"Not many can have a piece of this," Lex hinted to himself.

"I already had a piece," Mila raised her eyebrows.

"You remember ?"

"Of course I do," Mila traveled back in time, "Now don't think I'm weird or something, I just have a really protective dad and his posse, yeah I was sixteen then, but that was my first kiss."

"That's adorable."

"I'm surprised YOU still remember that."

"That WAS something special."


End file.
